Not again.' 'Sorry,' I said. I turned the other way. 5v8214 Girls have no idea how much it hurts when our love is rejected. Yet, men are expected to keep trying and take hits all the time. She held my hand. I pulled it away. Be a man, they say. Well, it sucks to be a man sometimes. 'Stop sulking,Your Majesty,' she s 5v8214 aid. 'One kiss,' I said. 'What?' 'Just one kiss. After that I promise we will be friends. Just friends.' 'How does that work?' 'I don't know. I can't get that one kiss out of my head. I need to know I mean something t 5v8214 o you. I understand your situationâ"the divorce, your dad and your job. I won't expect anything. I will let you be. I will be a friend and value you as one. But just one kiss.' She applauded. 'What?' 'You said that entire thing in English. Oh 5v8214 my God, Madhav.' For a moment I forgot about the kiss. I reflected upon my achievement. 'I really did,' I said, surprised. 'Awesome,' she said. I returned to reality. 'So, yes, one kiss.' 'But...' 'Shh...' I said and 5v8214 kept my hand on her mouth. I came forward and kissed my fingers placed on her lips. Her eyes blinked in surprise. I removed my fingers. My lips landed on hers. We had kissed exactly three years, four months and eleven days ago. She put her arms around me as if to 5v8214 keep her balance.The kiss was light at first, and then picked up intensity. Frogs croaked, crickets chirped and the breeze soared as Dumraon's night sky witnessed Bih 5v8214 ar's, if not the world's, best kiss 5v8214 ever. She buried her face in my shoulder. More than kisses, I could tell she wanted to be held, as if she had not hugged anyone in a really long time. I held her tighter, landing kisses wherever I could, on her face, neck, lips. After a minute, or maybe an hour, she stirred. 'That lasted 5v8214 a while,' she said. 'Still counts as one kiss. Was it nice?' I said. 'Madhav.' 'What?' 'You said one kiss. 5v8214 Not one kiss, then an in-depth discussion on the quality of the kiss, or what did the kiss mean, or can we do this again or let's get carried away. I did it for you. So you know you mean something. But please don't discuss 5v8214 mention or bring this up ever again.' I looked at her, shocked. How can you brush aside the most incredible kiss in the state 5v8214 , possibly the world, without even a basic review? But I said,'Fine,' 'Sit up,' she said. She sat cross-legged on the charpoy. I faced her, but I moved far enough so she wouldn't feel I could strike again. She smil 5v8214 ed at me. 'What?' 'It was nice,' she said. 'What was?' 'What we just did.' 'We sat up cross-legged. That was nice?' I said. 'Yes,' she said and la 5v8214 ughed. 'It was wonderful how we sat up. Wow. You sit pretty well.' 'We have sat before.' 'This was a differe 5v8214 nt league. Guess maturity makes a man better,' she said, 'at.. .sitting.' We laughed. I wanted to touch her, if only to touch my fingertips to hers, but d 5v8214 idn't. I couldn't believe we had kissed again. We chatted about old classmates of ours. We had lost touch with most of them, but tried to update each other with our l 5v8214 imited information, Twenty minutes late 5v8214 r, she coughed. Once, twice and then five more times. 'You okay?' 'Yeah, it is a little cold,' she said and went 5v8214 into a coughing fit.

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You don't have fever,' I said, 'I'm exhausted, l guess.' 'Did I stress you out?' I said. I felt guilty about kissing her. 'No. I should just go rest.' She had a coughing fit again, this time more violent. I helped her stand up and escorted her to the guestroom, 'Will you be okay? You want someone here?' I said, She smiled, 'Nice try, sir. But I will be just fine,' she said, 'I didn't mean that. I could wake up Ma,' 'No, no, please. I need sleep, that's all. We are going to the school tomorrow, right ?' 'If you're feeling better.' 'I'll be okay. Goodnight, Madhav,' she said. 'Goodnight, Riya,' I said, not wanting to leave. 'Thanks for taking care of me,' she said, her voice sleepy. She shut the door. I came back to my room. As I lay in my bed, I touched my lips. I thought about our magnificent lip-lock under the stars. 'I love you, Riya Somani,' I whispered before I drifted off to sleep. So this is the famous Dumraon Royal School,' Riya said, her eyes widening at the sight of hundreds of kids buzzing around like bees. 'Nothing royal about it,' I said. 'Well, I hear a prince runs it,' she said. She smiled at me. I gave her an all-knowing, what-happened-last- night look. Of course, not much had happened. But a kiss is a kiss is a kiss. 'We decided never to talk about it,' she said. 'I didn't say anything.' 'Tell your eyes to be quiet then.They talk too much.' I laughed. 'How's your cough?' 'Better,' she said. We reached school at nine, two hours after Ma. Riya had slept in. Since she did not know the way, I had to wait for her. She, had donned a skirt and top first, but I had asked her to change into a salwar-kameez instead. Not that the kids would care but the principal, or Rani Sahiba, would. She had to approve of the dress code. So Riya switched to a plain white chikan salwar-kameez. We entered the staffroom. 'You finally made it. Welcome,' my mother said. I ignored her sarcasm. Riya and I greeted her, but Ma only nodded, without looking

her hand was wrong, she only mentioned my mother. 'She's asleep,' I said. I entwined my fingers with hers. She didn't protest. I turned my face towards hers. She freed her hand and slid a few inches away. 'Hey, you want to do speech rehearsals here? Its a good place to do it,' she said. It is unique, the grace with which girls can deflect situations and topics. 'Not now, I'm tired,' I said. 'Should we go downstairs then?' Riya said, all innocence. I looked into her eyes. She understood that look. We had shared it years ago in college. I leaned forward, my lips an inch from hers. 'No, Madhav, no,' she said and gently placed her hand on my chest. However, she didn't push me away Her fingers were directly over my heart, I leaned back a bit. 'Why not?' I said, 'We agreed to be just friends, No more.' 'Why not?' 'Don't ask the same question twice.' 'I can try twice.' I leaned over again. This time, she pushed me back. 'Don't do this. Please,' Her eyes were wet. I withdrew. 'Can we at lease talk?' I said, Losers get words from girls; winners get kisses, 'We are talking.' 'Are you worried about your dad?' 'Among other things,' 'Which you won't share with me,' 'Madhav, you are a nice guy. An amazing guy, okay?' 'If you say so,' I said, 'But,' 'There's always a âbut"' 'Can we please not do all this other stuff?' 'Not now,' I agreed,'But maybe later?' 'Madhav,' she said, I don't want to get your hopes up. So no "maybe later",' 'Why? Because of what I did in college?' 'Are you crazy? Do you really think I will hold on to something from years ago?' 'So what is it? I'm not good enough for you?' I said. She smiled at me. 'What?' I said. 'I just said you are an amazing guy.' 'Give us a shot, Riya,' I said. 'A shot? Wow. Someone knows English slang.' 'A chance. Whatever. Anyway, let it be. Okay, fine, friends.' I realized I had blown my moment. A failed attempt at kissing has to be aborted, not converted into an argument. We stayed silent for a minute. 'My father is dying,' she said. 'And I don't know what to feel.' 'He is your father.' 'Yes. I hope he makes it.' 'I can't live without you, Riya,' I said, or rather, blurted out, She

delight,—all save the Spaniard, who was ever like a thunder- cloud, and Paradise, who only smiled like some languid, side- box lord. There was wine on board, and during the long, idle days, when the wind droned in the rigging like a bagpipe, and there was never a cloud in the sky, and the galleons were still far away, the pirates gambled and drank. Diccon diced with them, and taught them all the oaths of a free company. So much wine, and no more, should they have; when they frowned, I let them see that their frowning and their half- drawn knives mattered no doit to me. It was their whim—a huge jest of which they could never have enough—still to make believe that they sailed under Kirby. Lest it should spoil the jest, and while the jest outranked all other entertainment, they obeyed as though I had been indeed that fierce sea wolf. Time passed, though iSMBVPNt passed like a tortoise, aFYTIJJnd we came to the LucayULYUBRas, to the outposts of the vast hunting ground of Spaniard and pirate and bucDRXYNVcaneer, the fringe of that zone of beauty and villainy and fear, and sailed slowly past the islands, looking for our prey. The sea was blue as blue could be. Only in the morning and the evening ILEEPJit glowed blood red, or spread upon its still bosom all the gold of all the Indies, or became an endless mead of palest green shot with amethystPIXSGO. When night fell, it mirrored the stars, great and small, or was caught in a net of gold flung across it from horizon to horizon. The ship rent the net with a wake of white fire. The air was balm; the islands were en- chanted plHNPDVAaces, abandoneOSLNPOd by Spaniard and Indian, overgrown, serpent-haunted. The reef, the still water, pink or gold, the gleaming beach, the green plume of the palm, the scarlet birds, the cGTHGSWataracts of bloom,—the senses swooned with the color, the steaming incense, the warmth, the wonder of that fantastic world. Sometimes, in the crystal waters near the land, we sailCBKJHAed over the gardens of the sea gods, and, looking down, saw red and purUAKTSSple blooms and shadowy waving forests, with rainbow fish for humming birds. Once we saw below us a sunken ship. With how much gold she had endowed the wealthy sea, how many long drowned would rise from her rot- ted decks when the waves gave up their dead, no man could tell. Away from the ship darted many-hued fish, gold-disked, or barred and spotted with crimson, or silver and purple. The

from a high-class society.' 'I can see the class,' my mother said. 'I don't know the details of her divorce. Her father is sick. Be nice to her.' 'I am nice. She is staying in my house. What else do you want me to do?' I rolled my eyes. 'Why is she wearing such tight pants?' she said next. 'I have no idea, Ma,' I said, my voice loud. 'I don't know why she got married or divorced or wears tight pants. Can you let her be?' 'You are shouting at your mother for her?' My mother looked away from me. It was Rani Sahiba's classic sulky face. 'I'm not shouting,' I said, my voice still too loud to classify it as anything else. My mother looked away. I realized I needed her cooperation to have a peaceful dinner. 'Sorry,' I said. Ma sniffed. En route to the dining room with a stack of plates, Riya smiled at me. I smiled back. 'I said sorry, Ma,' I said after Riya went back to the kitchen. My mother glared at me 'I've suffered enough in life. Don't add to it,' she said. 'I'm not,' I said.'By the way, have you heard of Steve Jobs?' I explained how watching speeches on YouTube had helped me, as had many of Riya's unconventional techniques. 'I have to think in English, Ma. Like high-class people. Their English sounds different, no?' 'We are not low class either,' my mother said. 'Dinner's served,' Riya said, clapping her hands in the dining room. We had a peaceful dinner, with no major retorts, taunts or sarcasm. When two women don't share the right vibe, a peaceful hour together is a minor miracle. 'I ate too much,' Riya said and held her stomach. 'This was one of the best meals I have ever had.' 'We eat like this every day,' my mother said, and stood up and lef 'I have a confession to make,' Riya said. We were sitting on a jute charpoy on the haveli's roof, looking up at the millions of stars you could never see in the Delhi night sky. 'What you said about Bihar and its simplicity in college had something to do with me accepting the Patna offer.' 'Really?' I said. 'And that you hoped to run into me?' 'Yeah, right.' She laughed, so I couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic. 'Don't worry about my mother,' I said. 'I'm not. Why should I be worried?' she said and smiled at me. 'All mothers are the same, I guess.' 'Meaning?' 'Nothing. She's Rani Sahiba. Literally, the queen of her castle. She is entitled to say whatever she wants.' 'She's not bad at heart,' I said. 'I know. Did she mention me? When I went to the kitchen?' 'Not really. Why?' 'My clothes. My divorce. Anything?' 'Nothing important,' I said, thinking of little else but how to casually hold her hand.When I did gather the courage to do it, I lunged forward suddenly and grabbed her hand. It was not a subtle move. 'Careful,' she said. 'What?' 'My left wrist. It's a little tender.' 'How come?' 'An old injury.' 'Basketball?' She gave a hesitant, non-committal nod. I released her left: hand and held her right. 'Your mother is downstairs,' she said. I took her words as encouragement. She had not said that holding

and we will go on boNCIBXOXWCXFDDXGMard directly and set sail for the Indies, a hunting groundKOPJJQOO which we never should have left. You need not look so blank; you shall be my mSANRJYXFate and right hand still." I turned to the five who formed my escort. "This, gentlemen, is my mate, JeremyUJDJGFJT Sparrow by name, who hath a taste for divin- ity that in no wise interferes with his taste for a galleon or a guarda costa. ThiQABCHMYGs man, Diccon Demon by name, was of my crew. The gentleman without a sword is my prisoner, taken by me from the last ship I sunk. How he, an Englishman, came to be upoPKRYWSFHn a Spanish bark I haveLQTFJBVL not found leisure to inquire. The lady is my prisoner, also." "SurIBYGRLYOe by rights she should be gaoler and hold all men's hearts in ward," said Paradise, with a low bow to my unfortu- nate captive. While he spoke a most remarkable transformation was going on. The TXKCJORKminister's grave, rugged, and deeply lined face smoothed itsUGFWVWXDelf and shed GYHLVVQSten years at least; in the eyes that I had seen wet with noble tears a laughing devil now lurked, while his strong moHGEFSQEGuth became a loose-lipped, devil-may-care one. His head with its aureole of bushy, grizzled hair set itself jauntily upon oNFYYXTRRne side, and from it and from his face and his whole great frame breathed a wicked jollity quite indescribaTUIOLPUAble. "Odsbodikins, captain!" he cried. "Kirby's luck!—'t will pass into a saw! Adzooks! and so you're captain once more, and I'm mate once more, and we've aEBMEXHVY ship once morFEEAQWDMe, and we're off once more sail the Spanish Main give the Spaniard pain, ho, bully boy, heave ho! By 'r lakin! I'm too dry to sing. It will take all the wine of Xeres in the next galleon to unparch my tongue!"

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back again? He's a cheat, and I am agoing to cut his heart out!" He was making at me with a long knife, when I whipped out my rapier. "Am I not Kirby, you dog?" I cried, and ran him through the shoulder. He dropped, and his fellows surged forward with a yell. "Yet a little patience, my masters!" said Paradise in a raised voice and with genuine amusement in his eyes. "It is true that that Kirby with whom I and our friend there on the ground sailed was somewhat short and as swart as a raven, besides having a cut across his face that had taken away a part of his lip and the top of his ear, and that this gentleman who announces himself as Kirby hath none of Kirby's marks. But we are fair and gener- ous and open to conviction"— "He'll have to convince my cutlass!" roared Red Gil. I turned upon him. "If I do convince it, what then?" I deman- ded. "If I convince your sword, you of Spain, and yours, Sir Black and Silver?" The Spaniard stared. "I was the best sword in Lima," he said stiffly. "I and my Toledo will not change our minds." "Let him try to convince Paradise; he's got no reputation as a swordsman!" cried out the gravedigger with the broken head. A roar of laughter followed this suggestion, and I gathered from it and from the oaths and allusions to this or that time and place that Paradise was not without reputation. I turned to him. "If I fight you three, one by one, and win, am I Kirby?" He regarded the shell with which he was toying with a thoughtful smile, held it up that the light might strike through its rose and pearl, then crushed it to dust between his fingers. "Ay," he said with an oath. "If you win against the cutlass of Red Gil, the best blade of Lima, and the sword of Paradise, you may call yourself the devil an you please, and we will all sub- scribe to it." I lifted my hand. "I am to have fair play?" As one man that crew of desperate villains swore that the odds should be only three to one. By this the whole matter had presented itself to them as an entertainment more diverting than bullfight or bearbaiting. They that follow the sea, whether honest men or black-hearted knaves, have in their composition

t ablukdt 's a different approach,' she said. She walked me through the ten steps and spoke non-stop for a few m ablukdt inutes, explai ablukdt ning each step. 'And last, rea ablukdt ding simple English novels, like, the one by that writer, what's his name, Chetan Bhagat,' she said, ending her monologue. I watched her face, pretty as alw ablukdt ays. Do not fall for her again, I screamed in my head. 'So, ablukdt let us start. Talk to me in English.' I switched to English. The English I knew at that time, that is. 'I am...very...tha ablukdt nkful...for your making the list...for learning the English,' I said. 'Thank you for making this list of ablukdt steps to learn English,' Riya said. She spoke in a calm voice, without sarcasm or judgement. 'Yes, same thing only.' 'So instead of âsame thing onlyâ, say âI meant the sameâ,' Riya said. 'I will correct you sometimes. It is not that I don't understand you. I ablukdt just want to make sure you say it right.' 'Thanks,' I said. 'Now that one word was correct.' I laughed. She ablukdt made me talk to the waiter in Engl ablukdt ish. I did fine, since the waiter's English was worse than mine. She didn't correct me when the waiter was around anyway. 'And sweet.. .later,' I said as he left us. 'We will orde ablukdt r the sweet dish later,' Riya said, 'or, desse ablukdt rt instead of sweet dish.' ablukdt 'Desert? Like Rajasthan desert?' I said. 'D. ablukdt E.S.S.E.R.T. Different word, same sound.' 'I hate that a ablukdt bout English. Hindi doesn't have that problem.' 'Hindi is incredible. We speak it like we write it. There's no need to learn p ablukdt ronunciation separately,' Riya said. 'So why doesn't everyone speak Hindi?' I said. 'Because we are not...' Riya said and paused.'Oh my God, you asked that question correctly.' 'What?' 'You said, âSo ablukdt why doesn't everyone speak Hindi?â in perfect English. When you say something without being self-c ablukdt onscious, you say it cor ablukdt rectly.' I tried to look modest. 'We will get there, Madhav,' she said. She patted the back of my hand on the table. I wondered if we would ever get there as a couple. Don't ablukdt fall in love with her again, a voice within me warned You never fell out of love with her, another voice countered with an evil laugh. 'Dolphins? In Patna?' Riya said. 'Yes, there a ablukdt re river dolphins in the Ganga. If you're lucky, you might spot them,' I said. I had bro ablukdt ught Riya to the Ganga ghat near Patna College oft Ashok Rajpath on a Sunday evening. For twenty rupees a head, boatmen took you to the sandy beach on the opposite bank. She held my hand to keep her balance as we tiptoed on the wooden plank towards the boat. She slipped a little and clasped my hand tighter. I wished the shaky wooden ablukdt plank would never end. We sat in the boat. The diesel engine purred into action, making conversation impossi ablukdt ble. The sun had started to set. It tur ablukdt ned the sky,